On returning to England the same year, he again considered
Holy Orders but instead was attracted to
Manchester to join the chemical laboratory of
Lyon Playfair at the
Royal Manchester Institution. Here he became involved in some of the environmental issues of the world's first industrial city (see
History of Manchester). Playfair left for greener pastures in 1845 and Smith worked at making a living as an independent
analytical chemist. After some initial alarming experiences, Smith refused to take on
expert witness work which was a staple of consulting scientists of the day and which he saw as corrupt. Consequently, when the
Alkali Inspectorate was established by the
Alkali Act 1863, Smith's integrity made him the natural candidate. As Queen Victoria's Inspector of Alkali Works, he was the prototype of the scientific civil servant. In 1872 Smith published the book
Air and Rain: The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology, which presents his studies of the chemistry of
atmospheric precipitation. After his death his collection of about 4,000 books was acquired by the library of
Owens College, Manchester. They are now in the
John Rylands University Library, the successor of the college library. ==Spiritualism==